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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust in Books

Feb 23, 2024 (Updated Feb 23, 2024)  
Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust
Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust
Mindy Quigley | 2023 | Mystery
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mystery Didn’t Quite Work for Me
Summer is winding down soon, which means that the crowds will be disappearing from Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. Unfortunately for Delilah O’Leary, she hasn’t earned quite as much as she needs during her deep dish pizza restaurant’s first season opened to survive the coming winter season comfortably. Which means she needs to win the upcoming “Taste of Wisconsin” contest held during the annual Labor Day festival. She’s been trying to prefect her recipe for weeks. However, she is less than thrilled when she learns who the judge is going to be.

All that takes a back seat when someone drops dead in the new juice bar in town. Delilah happens to be on hand, and she can’t help but get involved in the investigation. But can she figure out what happened?

I enjoyed the first book in the series, and was looking forward to returning to the great characters and setting. Unfortunately, the plot tries to do too much. Early on, I was enjoying trying to figure out what was part of the mystery and what was part of any subplots, but when we reached the climax, things were just too rushed because of everything else going on. In fact, it felt like the mystery was undercooked overall, and I was left with a major question about why a character did what they did. Which is a shame because the characters and setting were great once again. I love Delilah and the rest of the crew, and I’d love to visit the town. There are some fun laughs, including in the recipes. Seriously, they are written by some of the characters, and they are great. I already have book three, so hopefully, the plot is stronger in that one.
  
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Annie Chanse (15 KP) rated The Dream Runner in Books

Dec 19, 2017  
The Dream Runner
The Dream Runner
Kerry Schafer | 2013 | Paranormal
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
DEFINITELY DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

Hmmmm.... I am of a mixed mind about this book. First of all -- my very first thought? It ended much too abruptly. I was reading right along, and all of a sudden, I turn the page expecting to see the next paragraph and see "Thank you so much for reading 'The Dream Runner' by Kerry Schafer!"

What what?!?!

Totally threw me off... completely. I realize this was a novella AND part of a series to boot, but still... very disappointing ending.

On the plus side of things, the premise for the book was pretty great. Custom-tailored dreams, made to order? Piping hot, fresh, and delivered in 40 minutes or less or its free? (Wait... is that pizza?)

Still. Very cool. I even really like the mystery surrounding the Dream Merchant. But Jesse is not a great protagonist. I felt no empathy for her at all. She suffered a terrible loss as a teenager, but her reaction to it is so far BEYOND extreme... she literally terrorizes her ex lover every night in her custom dream world because he killed her father in a complete freak accident to which he could not POSSIBLY have changed the outcome. Even at the end, when she has her big moment of honesty and self-realization... yeah. It actually made me like her even less.

Furthermore, some of the scenes in the book were very "out of left field" and felt very forced. There was no reason for them at all. It was as though the author thought, 'Hmmmm...maybe people would enjoy this more if I threw some obligatory sex in there. Or at least hint at it.' But it is very clumsily done and adds nothing to the story.

However, all that being said, this was by no means the worst book I have ever read. With a lot of work, I think this could potentially be turned around and made into a great series.